I sing using glossolalia, I have been ‘speaking in tongues’ since I was a little girl. After researching some about it recently, as I have never before had the presence of mind to go into any serious analysis of the phenomena, I have found some interesting things. I want to share my thoughts about it with the online community.
In my experience, glossolalia is pretty much the same as tapping into any creative flow. Artists, musicians, scientists, innovators will most likely agree that, when we have a moment of epiphany it is normally completely spontaneous and often wondered how it even occurred. For me, music or glossolalia comes from exactly the same expressive space. My music is highly improvised, as is my singing in tongues, it all happens automatically. The more relaxed I am the more organic or inspired the result is. This theory can really be applied to anything I feel, for instance the simple acts of walking, breathing, feeling, all are more or less intuitive and inspired depending on your own personal intention or vision at the time. I argue that any intention is preceded by a vision, the ability to engage in anything comes about through a dreamlike preview which then engenders engagement with a reality we gauge according to our experience of life. For me life is extremely varied and is not wholly concrete in terms of so-called “awake reality” or the tactile knowledge we have developed through our human condition. I believe that not unlike the idea of the “matrix” our reality is determined by our willingness to see beyond material conditioning , to question ‘reality” and fearlessly align ourselves with the humbling notion that our own perceptions cannot be the only reality. Hence our international recognition of awe-inspiring expression, in various forms, artistic and scientific, spiritual, people gifted with excellent faculties of expression open our own personally ascribed limitations of acceptable expression to new heights inspiring in us the sensation of awe in what can be possible. Glossolalia for me is a means by which I express the wonder of life, without a specific meaning, speaking in tongues is the inspiration that engages with me when I am open, just as music flows through me unmeasurable in its manner of arriving, a kind of empty clear space where the harmony evolves, expressed through my voice and/or the playing of my harp.

Now, I am myself on a spiritual path, Sufism. There is often a kind of tug in me to expound upon my experience of coming to faith especially in light of the huge reaction to religious thought which is currently at large in the world today. However, I strongly feel that reaction of any kind is completely useless, and I do not wish that manner in which i arrived at said “faith” might be used to further create useless argument of ‘you think you know, but I know better jargon” or more seriously to help inflate those egos who want more reason to believe that “they are in the right way” and others are not. God forbid the inflation of ” better than thou” syndrome which is so incredibly bereft of the most important principles prophets and saints have expressed for millenia, which is the obvious point that we have no idea what is in the hearts of other people. If you believe however that the inspiration you are finding in which ever gift you have been given is somehow gently unfolding of its own accord and could assist mankind to treat other’s reverently and equally, all power to you! Of course peace must only be possible by way of unharried sincere and absolute servitude and selflessness. Would that we might approach any faith with complete and utter dissemination of any ego, because with ego you falsely think you are coming closer to belief when in fact it is only fuel for your ego to use in it’s endless tirade of superiority.
So in my estimation of my expression of vocal sound, using the terms speaking in tongues, or glossolalia, I do not want to attach myself to any metaphysical possibilities by way of my faith without making the disclaimer that; in absolute brutally honest terms I have no idea of what is or isn’t in absolute certainty, as far as I know my expression is entirely useless above and beyond it’s potential in help me realize my own personal inadequacies and possible capacities. The literature that surrounds speaking in tongues which I do not find “unnatural, or phenomena related” talks a great deal of mysticism or the occult. Which leads me to my reasoning that anything in the world is inanimate until we engage with it, giving it breath and meaning for our “own existence”. I hope you follow; I am not speaking about the natural world and it’s obvious life, no, I am speaking about the individual experience and our personal engagement with our environments. So, given that anything or everything can be engaged with and given meaning, anything could or could not be used for some occult purpose, or religious purpose and purported thereafter as of religious or occult value. That being said, glossolalia is the same in my mind and that does not mean that I believe that the value of any given object or act having been engaged with for spiritual practice or otherwise is somehow without any life force other than the superfluous “idea” of the person who engaged with it. No, I truly believe that the engagement of the human being with anything can literally give life to an object or act which may transport the human being or the object or act to a new level of expression. As everything in the world is given names, attributes, components, by way of the human faculties of discernment, so these objects may also come alive in their own right and become either detrimental or positive depending on the intention made. So that leads me to the fact that yes… when I sing in tongues I have the personal intention of entering into prayer, and I do believe that that intention is part and parcel of the manner in which I live life in general, not just compose music. The vision of the out pouring expression is so powerful as to assume a dream life-like quality which proceeds the act itself. It is said in my tradition that the act’s of an evil person are not nearly as evil as those which she/he dreams, or only threatens, and the acts of a good intentioned person are not nearly as good as those which he/she dreams or intends through vocal expression. At least this is how I have understood it.

Again, so yes, when I sing it is inspired by the intention of prayerful thought, or my mind reaching up to the endlessness and out to the beyond nothingness and finding peace. One self appointed spiritual teacher did say that it was Faery language, and in all honesty, sure why not? I mean I believe in faeries, how can there not be elemental beings if we have microcosm’s within macrosms’ which are perceptible to our limited human perception, why not have multi layered existence?

When all else fails you realize that the point in case is that if harmony exist’s and it speaks a language it must be the language of inspiration and realized being, and if any language could exist it would most likely be one that most do not reasonably and rationally express and understand. So then, let us say that that language moves through us and teaches us in all faculties, without any real identifiable attributes, more of a kind of wind “muse” …. true, noble and good, healing and penetrating our collective memory and expression.

In this video I express through dance and music the story of being, as I am.
Unique we all are; especially when we tap into the fundamental flow of creativity
within us. The out-pouring of natural, uninhibited expression. The "Who" of
"You" happily moving in the moment, gently alive, purposeful and directed.

The rhythm of days, nights, seasons, are a beautiful opportunity to excel in the discipline of being. The gifts within the acts of cleanliness and organization are therapeutic, healing and intuitive art forms. The day manifests itself with light, creeping into the crevices of mind, realizing the living state, the harmony of being. With each movement we awaken, each movement preceded by living intention. Intention of will and spirit, how we engage with each act and discipline our mind, body and heart is incumbent upon our own level of self awareness.

Organization is a state of realized thought, we can see the out come of our own deeds in the powerful emotional responses we have to our environment. Everything is inanimate until we engage with that which is living in us as intention for the things we engage with in our surroundings. Leading the day are the lists of intention we find in the inner workings of our mind, the responsibility to our lives and those lives we touch. Each conscious good act is all of your animated being celebrating.

The enlightenment of lifting oneself from sleep, to feel our body, our senses, our breathing. Re-awaken, organize our thoughts, tidy our room, make our bed, wash, stretch, pray, prepare tea. Interruptions are each an opportunity to further stretch your capacity to authenticate the true peaceful you. Faltering and losing patience or focus is another opportunity to find the safety of goodness, to come back to your inner zero balance of what feels right. Each act is a living expression of our own inner calm, the harmonious potential in that which is forming our world as we live it. When we engage with anxiousness we leave off our ability to gently embrace life’s lessons. All life is a lesson, manifest in every living moment, every inner and outward motion. Time’s passing is irrelevant, it is the moment that counts. The passage is irrelevant, because we cannot remember the intricate exquisite detail of past moments, nor can we anticipate and understand the true outcome of coming events. It is only in the moment that we are free to choose, to engage with the potential excellent servitude in our acts of doing, servitude for all “Good”. Caring for environment is formative, it teaches us, enlivening our potential to understand the glorious oneness of the human experience in Creation. It is especially the simple acts that are most important, not the “larger aspirations, or recognized ambitions”, but the simple ones, the words we form with our mouths, the thought before the word is formed, small gestures, walking, breathing,

Walking into sound painting by yasmeen amina olya

Our Example,

surrender. Surrender all trickery, all criticism, all expectation, breath in the moment. I am now, this is One, all is One, I am peace, I choose peace. Affirmation is the unspoken promise to the truth and purity of simple living. It is in such a state we can listen, we can hear without the impoverishment of super-imposed expectations or ideals. We can hear our own needs, our own capacity, and in that capacity our own truthful empathy for others.

If we truly engage with any small deed, we experience gratefulness, it is as though you have given your body permission to relax. The weight of a cup in the fingers, the sensation of the cup, brought to the lips, sustenance, nourishment, care. Ferociously hold on to gratitude in simple living, it is the antidote to a world gone mad with it’s sadness over it’s attractive individualism, it’s addictive consumerism, fabricated insatiable needs that cannot be met because such needs do not exist. Celebrate the insanity of a world capitalizing on your insecurity, because it has given us the opportunity to see beyond, to truly recognize the opposite, the truth. Your void cannot be filled by other’s recognition of you, only One can fill that void, it is in the awakened simple life you have been gifted. Blessing of night, blessing of day, blessing of seasons, blessing of nature, body, mind, heart, spirit, lifted praising this perfect balance. I suffer, I am still blessed, in this way and this way… elements upon elements of nuance in any given moment, pain as a blessing teaching, lifting floating free, filling our purpose, a direction which “I” do not direct. I let go, I surrender and in doing so I am strong, fulfilled, placid, soft, moving in the world free of inhibitions, innocent, conscious, the wealth, the treasure of realization, of the moment recognized in self love, in Oneness unfolding abundantly.

http://www.yasmeensong.com “I am a Lilac” Celtic Harp and Song, (It would have been longer had it not been for the baby🙂 but I love that part ) Yasmeen Olya ~
Lyrics:
I am a lilac, grey, violet, white
climbing up the willow bank to play amongst the knights
I sit within their pockets and lie within their hands
I deck the maidens garlands and brightly colored bands

I am a maiden dressed in shining white
I fear the men with hard hands who use their skill for fright
I dream of men with small hands who lilt the weavers way
they bring me strands of opal and bunches of bright may.

I am a woman dressed in red and blue,
I wear my hair in long braids that speak of wisdom rewed
I dream of paths and shelters and followers and friends.
I shame the heart that binds him to all his worldly ends.

She knew she had been here before
The room was empty
The floor was a splendid white
A wind had whipped up the interior
The curtains hung at angles to
her heart
The window was glass
it shook her
profoundly, simply because it was tinted green
or was it ?
The landscape beyond was a wild sea
which tossed her breath about
and sea gulls soared in rushes of
bright flooding air
“flood me” she thought, charge me in that flood of wind
enveloped and forever turning upwards